Susan Adler George

Born in Baltimore, raised in Annapolis, MD, now residing in Chapel Hill, NC, Susan Adler George studied poetry in the writing seminars at Johns Hopkins University under the poet, essayist, and NPR commentator, Andre Codrescu. Andre encouraged her to make poetry her career. Susan continued with her art along with her poetry and illustrated and wrote children’s books. She is an award-winning writer, artist, and dancer and was selected to read at the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Also, Susan was chosen along with two other poets, to do a reading at the prestigious Maryland Institute of Art Poetry Series. While finishing her degree in English, she was tapped to teach several college-level poetry classes. She has won numerous poetry awards, including being one of the recipients of the 2017 Shadow Award for the Molotov Cocktail publication, as well as included in their third annual prize winners anthology. She was honored to have a multi-page poetry inclusion in the Baltimore City Paper, she had a poem included in an anthology housed at the Library of Congress as well as published in the Baltimore Magazine, and her works have been included in other local and regional publications. In 2015, Susan was chosen to read at the Carrboro, NC, Poetry on Your Plate.

Her poetry is often Tongue and Cheek, Dada, Surrealism, and playful paradoxes. She leans towards irreverence that can be absurd or enlightening. Susan is currently working on redoing one of her books in two new forms.

Much of Susan’s poetry is the result of her life’s experiences. Many of these experiences stem from the paradox of the serene countryside and comical but sometimes tragic family characters. Her grandfather on her father’s side, joined the Barnum T. Bailey Circus during the Depression after losing his business. Her mother was the youngest of seven from a prominent German-Jewish family whose wealth was lost when her father (Susan’s grandfather) died from diabetes complications. Her Gentile father was an intellect who felled the logs from the trees on their 16 acres to build their own home while the family lived in a tar-paper shack. Susan’s parents, having experienced what it was like to start their lives from scratch, taught Susan to enjoy the simple joys of life.